Homework 17- Initial Thoughts About Illness and Dying

     I've never been dying, but like everyone, I've been sick. The experiences I have had with being sick have ranged from not bad to unbearable. Whenever I get sick, I to my doctor and he either says that he can't do anything for me, or he prescribes me medicine. I get better in the next few days and thats the end of it. I think it's like that for almost everyone that I know. Why? Because they can afford healthcare. It frustrates me that there are a lot of people that can't afford healthcare, and nobody does anything about it. They are literally left to die. That there are countries, like Canada, that have systems so everyone gets healthcare. I believe the U.S. could adapt to a system like that and save people's lives. I don't think that it is fair people die because they can't afford to live. It could happen, it has in other countries. Why not the United States?
      When it's come to dying, I physically have never been dying, or told that I was going to die. I have been around other people dying though. Most people imagine that scene in the with the grieving family crowded around the hospital bed, for me it has been much different. I've been in that hospital room with somebody that was dying. Yes, the family was there. But it wasn't sad. It was happy. People were telling jokes, looking at pictures they had brought. Reminding the person about how great life is. That now when they're life is ending, it is still that great life they have lived. My experiences with dying make me realize that it's not always bad.
   Most people think about illness and dying in a negative way. I think that times of illness and dying can be some of the best times in life. Especially when somebody is dying. Think of it this way, when somebody is dying, people always ask, "How is ___ doing?" When somebody is dying, people always visit them. People always bring up the good memories you have together. People listen to you. People care about you when your dying. It's the same thing with being sick, but to a lesser extent. I'm not saying that dying is fun or pleasurable, but it brings people closer to you; you become more important. So if you like a lot of attention, a terminal disease may be good for you.
     One thing I don't understand about illness and dying is everybody tries to avoid it. I can understand the fear of illness because sometimes when your sick, you rather be dead. But when it comes to dying, everything else goes away. No more problems, because soon you'll be dead. In fact it might be true, you can't be totally happy until you die, or are dying. Or maybe that depends on who you are, and how your dying. I think a lot of the issues in this unit vary person to person. There are a lot of factors that come into play. For illness, the biggest factor would be what kind of illness a person has, because illness is such a broad term that includes a lot of different things. With death, it would be, how the person is dying. There's a big difference from dying from a heart attack then from a skiing accident. It's always different if you feel like you could have directly prevented something. I think that things will be more clear once we start to learn about how people usually illness and dying.
Questions:
-What part does religion play on the process of illness and dying?
-What type of difference is there in the lifespan of people coming from wealthy families?
-How does the healthcare system have to change to make it work for everyone who wants or needs it?
-How has the way we treat illness and dying change with the discovery of modern medicine?


I know those questions are cliche in a sense, and I think the reason that these questions are coming up is because the lack of the education that I have in this subject. I expect my questions to develop and become more in-depth as the unit progresses.